Two Brewers Tasting Notes

Two Brewers Yukon Single Malt Release: 06 Classic 43%

Tasted: Jan 2018

Full, soft and rich on the nose with caramel oak and balancing grain-like notes. Late hints of apple, apricot and cedar.

The palate displays plenty of sweet barley, apricot, malt and sweet oak. Sweetly spiced on the middle with oak bittering slightly. Long, spicy and honeyed finish with lingering oak.

Two Brewers Yukon Single Malt Whisky Release 08: Innovative 43%

With hops added to the mash

Tasted: Apr 2018

The nose is full and bananary. Quite Irish in style with hints of citrus, coriander and sweet corn-like notes. The oak is very subtle, but supportive.

The palate is subtle and bananary with honey, citrus and sweet hop notes. Very full and rich with a long, hoppy, sweetly spiced and slight spirit finish. Hints of milk chocolate in the after-taste.

Shefford Manor Tasting Notes

Shefford Manor 3 year old Canadian Rye 40%

Undisclosed distillery

Tasted: Oct 2017

Youth but quite a sweet nose with toasted oak, pine needles and herbal rye. Simple and straightforward with a late elderflower note.

The palate is youthful and oily with again elderflower and botanical rye. Quite citric and fresh on the middle with a touch of toffee. Short and spirit with lingering botanical notes.

JP Wisers Tasting Notes

JP Wisers Double Still Rye 43.4%

Tasted: Oct 2014

Nose: Chunky thick set honey and very subtle herbal rye. Pleasantly soft but edgy with toasted oak and earthy notes. A late winey, nutty Marsanne grape-like note appears along with a light, almost salty note.

Palate: Very much like the nose, maybe slightly oilier with a lovely depth of honey and again very subtle rye notes. Toasty/ nutty oak comes through on the middle with some building crisp, grainy notes.

Finish: Long and displaying some herbal spice and a lovely peppery finish.

Conclusion: A very subtle rye whisky with more than a passing resemblance to an Irish grain whiskey.

JP Wiser’s Hopped Whisky 46%

Tasted: Feb 2016

Nose: Quite coffee’d with almost pot still-like spicy notes. Hints of sherried dried fruit emerge along with camphor and leafy herbs. Edgy and earthy with developing grain whisky-like dried fruit and cocoa powder.

Palate: Sweet-ish, juicy dried fruit with hints of camomile and juniper. Crisper on the middle as the buzzy grains arrive but the dried fruit and vanilla counterbalance.

Finish: Good length with the vanilla accented dried fruit lingering. Lightly coffee’d, herbal and chocolate powder after-taste.

Conclusion: Tasted blind you could easily mistake this for a Scottish grain whisky.

Forty Creek Tasting Notes

Forty Creek Evolution 43%

Tasted: Oct 2014

Nose: Initially the aromas are quite shy, but there is plenty of dense, slightly spicy oak along with soy sauce, wheat flakes, dried balsamic fruit and a light spice note. With time some grainy spirit puts in an appearance.

Palate: Slightly watery with sweet spice, dried sultana, white grape and oak. Hugely tannic with some creamy notes attempting to offset and like the nose some grainy spirit notes come through.

Finish: Dry and tannic, with the grainy spirit prevalent.

Conclusion: It feels like a moderately aged grain whisky which has succumbed to the oak.

Glenora Distillery Tasting Notes

Glen Breton Ice 10 year old 57.2% 

Aged in Icewine barrels/ Tasted: Aug 2010

An unusual nose to say the least. Young, raw, grainy dried fruits mingle with a serious amount of oak. There is some honeyed sweetness and citrus aromas lurking in the background but the sawdusty-vanillins and sugared almond notes are the dominant aromas. It seems a lot younger than 10 years old.

The palate is slightly oily, with the oak hitting the palate full on with a hint of citrus freshness and some winey honey. After the piquant alcohol has passed some sticky sweet lime and butterscotch remains. I have to say that neat the flavours all come through on the finish, and it’s just a tad sticky for my liking.

With water it’s weird. It seems like the components have split apart and it’s oily and fresh at the same time. Very odd! The palate has become very watery and sweet, there are a lot of winey cask notes and then it fades pretty quickly. It seems to me that if you take away the cask it doesn’t have a great deal of character.

Glen Breton Ice 10 year old 57.2%

Re-Tasted: July 2015

Nose: Classic, crisp, grainy almost pot still aromas with hints of oily marzipan, vanilla and tart citrus. Lightly herbal with an almost rye-like demeanor along with hints of baked melon, banana and apricot. Water emphasises it’s youth.

Palate: Quite oily with honey and a touch of citrus. The crisp, grainy spices are fairly hidden but they begin to emerge and add a frisky, tongue tingling element. Gently fruited with squashed apricot and banana. Water brings forward the oak.

Finish: Intense, quite drying and grainy with a touch of young, herbal rye-like spirit notes showing.

Conclusion: Not the most complex Canadian I’ve ever encountered but you have to love its youthful intensity 

Glen Breton 10 year old 43%

Tasted: Nov 2016

Soft and very malty aromas with manure, earth, barley and a slight, oily nuttiness. With time hints of warming spice and vanilla appear.

The palate is malty and barley’d with hints of herbal rye-like notes. It showers more intensity than the nose with citrus and earthy notes on the middle. Good length with a touch of toffee, hazelnuts and rye-like spice on the finish.

Glen Breton Rare 19 year old 43%

Tasted: Apr 2015

Nose: Initially the nose is a little muted due to the oils. Quite herbal with hints of dried barley husks, cinnamon sticks, coriander and toffee.

Palate: Very oily and toffee’d with dried barley, heather and building herbaceous notes.

Finish: Good spicy finish with some Tequilla-esque pepper and hints of milk chocolate.

Conclusion: I guess the only positive comment I can make is that there are no off notes. However the overt oiliness of the spirit makes it a bit dull to be honest.

Corby Distillery Tasting Notes

Pike Creek Port Finished 40%

Tasted: Oct 2005

Rich, honeyed aromas mingle with sweet vanilla laced fruit cake with subtle port wood notes and plenty of spice and pepper. Smooth and dry on the palate with a lovely balance of spicy port notes, dried fruit cake and vanilla oaked fruit. Good length and depth.

Pike Creek  Blended Canadian Whiskey 10 year old 40%

Double distilled in small copper column stills at the Corby Distillery the spirit is matured in first-fill white oak bourbon barrels then finished in vintage port pipes.

Tasted: Feb 2013

Nose: very grainy and neutral with some fresh, gin-like botanicals.

Palate: Soft and grain dominated.  Subtly oaked but it has a good depth.

Finish: Medium length, again all grain.

Conclusion: Not a huge malt character and the grain is rather neutral. Oak aged vodka?

Lot No40 Canadian Rye 43%

Tasted: Feb 2016

Nose: Astringent, herbal rye and herbal grain notes, softened by some chocolate coated grains and sweet oak. With time hints of molasses and treacle appear as the nose darkens.

Palate: Crisp and fresh with just a subtle graininess. Gently herbal with molasses and treacle mingling with some sweet oak and rye spice.

Finish: Long and herbal with that wonderful intensity lingering.

Conclusion: A rye that comes across like a grain whisky? It can only be Canadian!

Lot 40 Rye 43%

Re-Tasted: Sept 2017

A high toned nose, which leads off with dried fruit and oily spirit notes. Initially a little feinty, but that integrates and gives way to dark spicy rye, oak and a light herbal note. Quite austere but there’s an almost corn-like sweetness beneath which balances the austerity. The purity of the rye character is impressive though.

The palate is quite oily and soft with the spicy rye initially subdued, but they build, along with the citrus and oak. In fact it becomes a serious battle on the middle as the rye continues to intensify and becomes quite herbal. Youth, oily finish with hints of toasted, caramel corn-like notes and a touch of wood spice.

 

 

 

 

Gooderham & Worts Tasting Notes

Gooderham & Worts No1 45%

Hand selected small batch whisky (rye, malted barley & wheat)

Tasted: Oct 2005

The nose is light, earthy, clean and youthfully spirity, with dried fruit, cloves, spices, grain, and a touch of vanilla. The palate is clean with an intensity of lightly oiled citrus, cognac-esque dried fruit, vanilla fudge and light spices which continue to develop on the middle. Long with a lingering oily finish.

Gooderham & Worts Four Grain Canadian Blended 44.4%

Tasted: Sept 2015

Nose: A thick, saturated and seriously floral nose. A real riot of honey, barley, chunky oak, toffee and violets. Some crisp, herbal grain balances beautifully.

Palate: Crisper and grainier, with an almost mentholated freshness. The toffee’d oak sits pliantly beneath. Relatively straightforward but pleasantly deep with a touch of honey and coffee.

Finish: Long but very oaky. The toffee has become quite oily and some bitter, coffee’d tannins make it a little drying.

Conclusion: I certainly wasn’t expecting the oak fest on the finish! Not exactly subtle but entertaining nevertheless